xiaobu

We had our AOS interview yesterday and we passed On the approval letter, it said in about 90 days my wife will be receiving her "Permanent Residence Card" . It also states "Congratulations on becoming a lawful Permanent U.S. Resident" Does this really mean she will be getting a temporary 2 year card? We have only been married for a little over a year, so I'm confused as to why the approval letter would say "permanent" resident. - xiaobu

We just finished our interview yesterday and we passed! We are real happy about it, but this morning, we went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get an ID for my wife, and they said that the NOA 797C documents and the approval letter were still not enough to get an ID or a drivers license. We have completed everything successfully. Our Employment Authorization Document was submitted (with check cashed by USCIS) over 2 1/2 months ago, and still has not been approved. This is extremely frustrating. My wife has been in the U.S. for 6 months, and she still cannot: Legally drive Open a bank account Legally work In other posts, I've read that during the AOS interview, you should ask for the I-551 stamp, and the officer said they don't do stamping anymore (this is in California). So this approval paper that they gave us yesterday is worthless basically. The officer said we could wait anywhere from 1-6 months, but she said it would probably be around 1 month. Maybe we just have to continue to be patient. But, any feedback on how I can get my wife driving legally, working legally or opening a bank account would be great. By the way, our interview was successful due to the great advice given on this site. Thanks so much. -xiaobu

I just went full time at my new job, and during the probation period, they don't pay for benefits. There is the option of using COBRA, but they want over $700 a month for the two of us, and we are very low risk. I'm now looking at buying my own health insurance for the next 2 months, but they all seem to have the eligibility limitation of being a U.S. citizen, being a foreign citizen that has lived in the U.S for over a year, or being a Green card holder. My wife is none of these right now. How can I get health insurance then? Thanks in advance, xiaobu

Hi CFLers, We got our K-1 visa and just wanted to say thanks to everyone who contributes on this site. I wanted to contribute some details of our experience in the hopes that it may help others. 1) It seems that the timelines are shorter than those commonly quoted on CFL. This was the case, at least, for us. For example, after we sent in our P3 docs, we received a response within a month, and our interview date was only 1 month after that! This actually put us in quite a bind to get all the proper documents in time. 2) Take the advice on this site and get to Guangzhou at least one day early, even if you take care of everything (medical check, etc.) in another city. You will talk to people, such as Mr. Xie, and they will review the documents you will need. We thought we had everything we could (aside from one document that we couldn't get because we got our interview date too soon!) , but there were recommendations and things that we flat out missed that had us running down to an internet bar and printing out at 11pm at night. 3) There is an apartment location service that we used, which we found on this site. But these guys (Mr. Xie and Xiao Wu) really know about the visa process and were extremely valuable not only for their knowledge for what we needed to provide, but also consoling during an extremely emotional process. Thank you again Mr. Xie! Here is his number: (86) 13729868644 4) My fiance and I are convinced that the fact that I live and work in the same city in China as her was the biggest factor. We didn't have time to have a document translated to English, our email history was not complete, we didn't have a lot of pictures, we didn't have a video, etc. According to my fiance, the VO was surprised and possibly impressed that I was working in China. Even though not on the list of required documents, I brought the original "Alien Employment License of the People's Republic of China" document. Each foreign employee in China should have access to theirs. The VO ignored a lot of documents, but not that one. 5) They asked my fiance if she was a member of the communist party... Strange. Never saw that one on the sample interview questions page. She said no by the way. 6) I was able to talk with and even give a document to my fiance while she was in the interview room. This room, according to some posts on this site, is supposed to be restricted to beneficiaries, which "should not be influenced" according to the U.S. Consulate's official documentation, by their significant others. Although there are glass walls where loved ones are watching from the other side of, there is one hallway that leads to the bathrooms, which are not in the restricted area. The fiances will walk through this area, where loved ones can directly talk with them. I handed a document to my fiance while she was actually in the waiting room to be interviewed. The guards didn't seem to mind. 7) You can notarize documents right next to the room where the interviews are taking place. The American Services room provides free notarization in about 15 minutes. Just make sure thats all you need to do. They don't translate documents, they don't provide much guidance, but they do notarize. The night before, I realized (ok, Mr. Xie realized) I forgot to notarize my I-134. After not sleeping all night because of so much worry, I got the document notarized about 30 minutes before my fiance was up for her interview. The VO never looked at it after all. I hope this is helpful to those going through the process. Thanks so much CFL. - Xiaobu

Hi CFLers, We just got my SO's Single Certificate. On the document it says that from 2001 to 2006 she has never registered for marriage. She has never been married. At the end of the document, it says that the document only provides proof that she has not been married in the city of her hukou (Shanghai), but it adds that there is no guarantee that she hasn't been registered for marriage in another city. Does she have to get a certificate like this for each place that she has lived? This would be really bad news cause we only have a couple weeks until the interview. Thanks again for all of your help, - xiaobu

Thanks. We will start at the German Consulate in Shanghai. We have less than 3 weeks to get everything ready

Hi, We can get the police certificate from Shanghai no problem, but my SO also spent 2 years in Germany working. She's been back in China for 2 years now. How do we get a police certificate from Germany now? - Brook

Hi everyone, Thanks for all of the advice. I will provide 2 years of tax returns, verification of employment in China and a property tax document from my U.S. house. Is the property tax document considered proof of domicile? Also, to be safe, my fiancee's sister (who immigrated to the U.S. on a fiancee visa 10 years ago) and her U.S. husband will be sponsors for my SO as well. They will fill out the I-134 form and provide last years tax return and Verification of Employment. Does this seem like a safe way to do it? Thanks in advance, xiaobu

Hi, For 2 out of the last 3 years, I've been working in China in order to be with my fiancee. I was hired locally here, in Fortune 500 coporations, but earning a pretty standard Chinese salary (only about 25k USD per year). My earning potential is high I believe (7 years of Software Engineering experience, just completed a masters in software engineering from a California State University and fluent in Chinese). I have a piece of real estate in southern california with about 350k in equity. However, my income tax returns for the last 3 years are going to show that I didn't earn very much money in the U.S. and since I'm still in China, I won't have an employer in the U.S. to provide proof of employment. I'd like to avoid a co-sponser, but I'm afraid my financial situation will hurt the chances of interview approval (next month in October) Any advice? Thanks in advance. Without this forum I'd be lost! - xiaobu

Probably no big deal, I'm positive it has happened before. If you are concerned about it go ahead and email GZ, but don't make a big deal of it. Mention that it was incorrect on the I-129F and has been corrected on the DS-230. You might ask if they need any further clarification of the correction. But you should wait until they have received the P-3 and got it in the computer, you can check this by calling DOS. At most it could trigger a new name check based on the birth place. If you want to add a timeline you can go to the main forum page, click on My Controls and then Edit Signature, but it's not required. You gave enough info for people to know enough to answer the question. My speculation on your timeline goes like this: I-129F filed in March or April at VSC RFE received and returned for IMBRA NOA2 Approved in June NVC sent to GZ early July GZ received and sent P3 early August But that's just my guess based on the info you gave. 237963[/snapback] after they recieve your paper work in GUZ, go to there website and fill out the form that will send them a e-mail , explane what the mistake is and they will ask you to to write them a letter with the mistake you made and the correction you want to make , it will have to be notorized, you can fax it to them and when your so go for interview she can take it to them, i just had a simular problem 238282[/snapback] Thanks everyone for your advice. I agree, honesty is the best policy. I will call GUZ and confirm they have received our P3 forms. If I can't tell them the problem on the phone, I will use the GZ website to email them. I will ask them for the fax number that I can send the notorized explanation to and also bring it to the interview. Thanks a lot! - xiaobu

We just sent in the P3 documents last week. However, my fiance realized the next day that she marked Shanghai as the birthplace on the I-129F that we filled out 4-5 months ago. She was born in Jiang Xi, but she grew up in Shanghai and her Hukou is for Shanghai. Should I call the Consulate in GuangZhou and tell them? Or should I just hope they don't make a big deal out of it? Could our application be in for a big delay? Thanks and waiting for your replies! - xiaobu

Ok, we have confirmed that our addresses in China and the US (our home coutries) are correct. However, my fiance lived in Germany for work a few years ago and is not sure about the exact address number. Do we have to supply an exact address here as well? Thanks for the feedback, - xiao bu

Hello everyone, We are filling out our G-325 forms right now and we both are having a bit of trouble remembering the exact addresses of our residences in the last 5 years. The Street name, City, Country and time frame are accurate, however, some of the Street Address numbers we don't remember anymore. Will this be a problem? I want to know this before we send in the forms. Thanks! - xiao bu

Hello, I am planning on filing for a fiance (k-1) visa soon. I am then going to China to be with my fiance while the visa processing takes place. If we decide that we want to get married in China, what happens to the k-1 process? Do we just cancel it and start over with the k-3 visa? We are not planning on switching over, but I just want to know the scenario if it happens. Thanks to everyone. This site is great - xiao bu

ed and ying, Your timeline seemed pretty quick. How did you get everything done so fast? Any suggestions? Thanks! - xiao bu